I am Reuben Schwartz, Awards Columnist for the Golden Reel Awards, and welcome back to For Your Consideration! This is my second go-around and I am so happy to be here for the studio’s Ten Season Anniversary. In this column, I will recap the biggest talking points during this awards season and put those storylines in the context of this studio’s illustrious past. So let’s get things started, shall we?
The Storylines
The major standout of both this ceremony and season overall is the comebacks of Brie Larson and Mackenzie Foy. The two won together for their performances in The Child Martyr and ranked third and fourth, respectively, in the first LRF 100. While Larson was probably safe for the next round of voting, it looked like Foy might be on her way out after not having made a major impact since Season 4. But this certainly makes things interesting, doesn’t it? They both starred in two films that received more than 4 nominations (plus Larson had a nice little blockbuster in Uncharted 2). Hell, it was even a good comeback season for Jean-Marc Vallee, as well, even if he didn’t land a directing nomination.
While some years have a dominant film that nears double digit nominations, this year things are very evenly-distributed near the top. Letter to Myself and Blackbird led the way with 7 while Ghost Town and Kite each had 6. 7 Days, with 5 nominations, found itself on the outside looking in for Best Picture despite having common precursors like Director, Actor, and Adaptation. Plus Hands on a Hard Body and Haute Couture also nabbed four each, themselves.
While Ghost Town and Letter to Myself were arguably the strongest films of the season, they were the only two stand-outs in the Original Story field - which felt noticeably weaker this season. In the other writing category, however, all 4 nominees felt like legit Best Picture potentials. Plus the fifth leg for Adaptation was Eileen, which definitely would have made it into the Original category (even if it was performance-driven).
The most competitive category might be Best Director. Four very directors with a very distinct visual style are competing for the crown and it is hard to pick a favorite. Refn and Zahler might be a few steps back given the divisive brutality of their films. Plus Refn has won the award before - more on that later. Meanwhile, having to choose between the likes of Chan-wook Park and Barry Jenkins is not a bad problem to have.
The big mystery surrounding this ceremony is what we didn’t see in the nominations: LRF Lifetime Achievement Award. Now 300 films deep, there are certainly a lot of quality options this time around. Tom Cruise won it last time and you don’t have to look far into that Top 10 Stars list to find two juicy options: Alden Ehrenreich and Brie Larson. But just because it went to an actor last time doesn’t mean that is who will win it this time. Could it be a legendary writer like Mo Buck or John Malone? Or maybe a director like Nicolas Winding Refn? Either way, my eyes will be glued to the screen when they announce this award.
The Surprises & Snubs
Snub: Mo Buck - In all honesty, Mo had an uphill battle in the Best Director category. Barry Jenkins, Chan-Wook Park, and Nicholas Winding Refn seemed like three locks with the fourth spot up for grabs. That was likely between Buck, Richard Linklater, and eventual nominee S. Craig Zahler. Mo shouldn’t feel too down, though, as his film was definitely recognized elsewhere in the nominations.
Snub: Jared Leto - Like Production Design, Soundtrack, and Sequel, the Best Villain category usually provides an opportunity for non-awardsy type of films to sneak in a nomination. In this case, Missing Men was the most robbed as Leto was its strongest component.
Surprise: Maximum Max - As previously mentioned, this year’s Original Story batch seemed weaker than usual. Letter to Myself and Ghost Town were the two stand-outs with Haute Couture in distant third. So the last spot was anyone’s game. The fact that this mildly-received original superhero flick landed a nomination should be indicative of the strength of this year’s field.
Snub: Brad Pitt - Pitt was a Season 1 nominee for Best Actor and it seemed like he had a shot at getting nominated there again this season. He clearly had fun with his role but the film’s heavy reliance on comedy was likely detrimental to his cause as opposed to some of the more heavy hitting dramas he was competing with.
Surprise: Best Ensemble - This felt like a category that had four main contenders: Ghost Town, Hands on a Hard Body, Haute Couture, and Eileen. The fact that Eileen got three acting nominations and still got beat by JLI is a definite surprise. That being said, it might show us that voters know the difference between a three-performance film and a true ensemble.
Snub: Joaquin Phoenix - Hey, Phoenix was clearly the best part of this film and good performances in poorly-received movies should not be ignored out of principle.
The Returns
Previous Winners:
Brie Larson - In case you didn’t know, Brie Larson won the first two Best Actress awards in the studio’s history (with a Best Starring Couple to boot). I’ve already covered Larson’s incredible season, a little bit. I don’t think it’d be a stretch to say that she had a real shot at landing two nominations for Best Actress this season with Hands on a Hard Body. That would’ve just been greedy, right? And as I said, she also has a real shot at the Lifetime Achievement award. If the chips fall into the right place, the 10th Annual GRAs have a chance to catapult Larson into #1 on the LRF 100 Top Stars list. No pressure.
Mackenzie Foy - But one of the contenders standing in her way is someone she knows very well. Foy hadn’t even sniffed award season in a good while but - like Larson - this season found her starring in not one but two big contenders. Foy won Best Supporting Actress for her legendary performance in The Child Martyr.
Nicolas Winding Refn - Coming into this season, Refn was one of only three multiple time Best Director nominees (Paul Thomas Anderson and Andrew Dominik being the others). He was nominated for The Question and won for Crowley. This third nomination puts him in unprecedented territory and a win here would solidify that.
Kyle Chandler - Chandler previously won for his turn as Edgar Woodward in Death Dream - the third best performance in LRF history. He was also nominated in this same category for Nevada, Iowa. He has a chance to be the first two-time winner of the Supporting Actor trophy.
Best Original Story - No new blood here just yet. All the nominees this year have been there before. Taylor has won it three times, Buck twice and Morrow and Morgan once each.
Russell Crowe - This one comes with a bit of an asterisk as Crowe has only won for Best Villain and not Best Actor. He’s nominated in both again, here. He was nominated for that same Blood Meridian role in the Best Actor category but lost out DiCaprio. He was also a notable snub in Season 6 for his lauded performance in Scion. He is also someone who has experienced a career resurgence at LRF and this would be his crowning achievement.
Previous Nominees:
Jake Gyllenhaal - He was in the newcomer group last year but this makes it back-to-back years in the Best Actor race for LRF’s resident caped crusader.
Best Adaptation - Mo Buck is the only previous winner in this category for Vice City. Taylor has three nominations (Missoula, Booster Gold II, American Dream), Seth Overton two (Steins Gate, To The Moon) and Roy Horne one (his debut, Perfect Blue).
Al Pacino - He must work really well with James Morgan. Pacino was previously nominated for in the Best Villain category for his performance in Mr. Big. This time he is nominated in the Best Supporting Actor category, although his predatory fashion designer defintiely could have gotten him into the Villain category, too.
Jennifer Lawrence & Anne Hathaway - Two Best Actress nominees from last year return for this year’s category (Hathaway in support). This makes it three for three for Ms. Lawrence - an incredible stat. That being said, she still seems to have not found her definitive role here at the studio so maybe the best is yet to come (and maybe her star power is helping her a bit, here and there).
The Newcomers
Bryan Cranston - Like David Harbour last season, this nomination really is something to see. Cranston is the busiest actor in the studio’s history and this is his first nomination for an individual performance. He is often given supporting roles so it is fitting that his first starring turn has earned him as much love as it has. Sounds a little similar to his career on television, doesn’t it?
Emma Stone & Frances McDormand - This is Stone’s debut for the studio so she’s off to a good start. As for McDormand, she hasn’t been seen since Season 3 and she really came back with a vengeance this season. Like Larson, she had a real shot at being a double nominee for her roles in Eileen and Haute Couture, but she should be content with being the favorite, nonetheless.
Kiersey Clemons - Like Stone, this is her debut for the studio and it landed her a Best Actress nomination. However, she does not have the name clout as someone like Stone or Lawrence, which makes this all the more impressive. In a large ensemble film like Ghost Town, it would’ve been easy for individual performances to get lost in the shuffle but there was no doubt that Sunday was the definitive star of her story and the most frequently-seen character in the film (which certainly helped).
Joey King - Interestingly enough, King has been in exactly one film each season except for Seasons 1 and 6. Given that there was another Splinter Cell this season, it could have been her first with 2 films but of course they conflicted with each other. While Splinter Cell would have been another great paycheck, I’m sure she’s okay with getting a GRA nomination instead.
Lee Pace - What makes Pace’s nomination for Best Villain fascinating is that this is his third time playing Maxwell Lord. Someone being nominated for a third performance is not something you see often, although his character wasn’t technically a villain in those first two outings.
Lucas Hedges - Don’t look now but this ceremony could cement Hedges as the studio’s brightest young star. His career started a bit slow but has now had 5 films in the last two seasons - including the best part of Hippies in New York and being nominated for Best Ensemble for Outlaw Country. Life of a Champion Part 2 will probably be a low point in his LRF career but that is totally negated by him being the favorite (I think?) for Best Actor for his performance as Mo Buck. And for what it’s worth, he seems to be making a living off of this type of role as he will also play a fictionalized Shia LaBeouf in an upcoming auto-biographical film penned by
LaBeouf.
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